


Drive By

by RishiDiams



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, One Night Stands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-02-17
Packaged: 2018-03-13 09:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3375623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RishiDiams/pseuds/RishiDiams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a night of partying, Rose wakes up in a bed not her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drive By

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning:** This fic contains the events that take place after a one night stand, including the use of morning after contraception.

It was the cotton-y feeling of her mouth that woke her and the surging in her stomach that made her sit up. The nausea passed quickly after that.

Eyes still closed, Rose assessed her condition. Her head felt fuzzy and her mouth tasted like yesterday's socks, but all-in-all she'd had worse hangovers. 

The room on the other side of her eyelids was either dark or very faintly illuminated, so she chanced cracking one eye open, and then breathed a sigh of relief when the only light in the room spilled from the en suite door which had been left slightly ajar. Opening her eyes fully, she looked around to discover she wasn't somewhere she recognized. She started to breathe harder as her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she was able to make out the dark furniture, the footie poster hanging on the wall, and the array of bits and bobs on the desk. 

Throwing back the covers, another worrying detail was revealed to her. She was clad only in her knickers and bra. 

Scrambling now, she got out of the bed, briefly resting one hand on the nearest wall when her stomach rebelled against the abrupt movements. A few quick steps brought her to the en suite and she stepped inside. 

The complete lack of girly products confirmed it, she was definitely in a bloke's room. 

But whose? 

The beginning of the evening was perfectly clear. She'd gone out with a few friends from class, looking to blow off some steam before revision. By their second club of the night, her memory started to get hazy.

Rose met her own gaze in the mirror, taking in her wide eyes and sleep-mussed hair. Then her attention moved quickly down to the large, vicious love bite on her neck. Swallowing back the taste of acid in her mouth, she focused her self-assessment lower, to the slight soreness between her thighs. Her stomach heaved and she scrambled for the loo only to have the urge recede before she lifted the lid. However, her new position drew her attention to the bin beside the toilet where a quick glance confirmed her worst fears: it contained no used condoms. 

She barely managed to lift the lid on time. 

The next several minutes after that were spent soaking a flannel in the cool tap water and running it over her face and neck. Those moments were definitely not spent in contemplation of how she was going to walk out of the bedroom to face the bloke she'd apparently gone home with last night. 

Or how she was going to live with herself afterwards. 

She tamed her hair and then located her clothes. They were in a pile beside the bed and smelled like she'd washed them in ciggie smoke and alcohol, flimsy armor at best. 

After she dressed, she walked around the room, hoping and praying for another bin. The only one she found was filled with crumpled papers and more bits and bobs. Thankfully, there was no food left in her stomach to lose. 

With a deep breath, she opened the door and looked around. 

No way was this a residence hall room. She was in a proper flat, which had a large lounge with sofas and a huge telly. An open doorway on the other side showed off white worktops and the corner of a refrigerator. There was a small table in between, meant to seat no more than four people comfortably. And sitting at that table was Jack Harkness, flirt extraordinaire, who thankfully was blissfully happy in his relationship with Ianto Jones. She was saved. Going home with Jack meant that the worst hadn't happened after all. 

Except, the instant his eyes lit upon her, the surprise in those blue depths sucked the air right out of her. 

"Well, well, well." He leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable. "Good morning." 

"I just woke up in your spare bedroom, so unless you were drunker than I was last night, I don't think you should be so surprised to see me." 

A knowing smile worked its way across his chiseled movie-star good looks. "Honey, I don't have a spare bedroom." 

"Then whose..." The question faded as the return of her memory coincided with said roommate's appearance in the archway between the lounge and the kitchen.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. I thought you might like some breakfast, so I did some research on the best foods to eat when you have a hangover. Lucky for you we had some of them in!" He gestured with the tray he held, which contained a plate filled with poached eggs, chopped up bananas, and a few slices of toast slathered with jam, as well as a glass of what looked like tomato juice. 

As he waited for her answer, his hopeful puppy dog eyes slid from her face to the side of her neck. When he met her gaze again, his eyes had darkened considerably and her stomach flip-flopped in a way that had nothing to do with how much alcohol she'd consumed the night before. 

John Noble. Tall, slim, foxy. Brilliant. And younger brother to Donna, one of the subwardens in Rose's hall, though he was still over a year older than Rose herself. He spent a lot of time around their hall, mostly because it annoyed his sister to no end, but also because he never wanted for female companionship. Jabe and Lynda when he'd gone through a bit of a rebellious phase - leather jacket and all - last year, but more recently, Cassandra, Sarah, and Renee. 

Not that Rose had been paying attention. 

And he'd just made her breakfast while wearing an old ratty t-shirt and what looked like a pair of outer space print boxers, his typically magnificent hair still mussed from sleep and whatever else they'd gotten up to last night that had ended with her in his bed. 

"Are you two just going to stand there staring longingly at each other all morning or what? Because you're blocking the door and some of the rest of us would like breakfast, too." 

Rose inhaled sharply. John turned his head to look at Jack, his mouth already opened to retort when she spoke instead. 

"Actually, I was just leaving." 

John winced at the harshness of her voice. "You don't have to go." He gestured with the tray again - and what kind of uni student had a proper breakfast-in-bed tray anyway? "I made this for you," he reiterated. 

"No, really, I should..." Rather than try to come up with an excuse, she turned towards the door and let her actions speak for themselves. 

"Rose, wait!" 

Ignoring the shout - she couldn't tell if it was Jack or John - she passed the lift doors and ran for the stairs. It wasn't until she hit the ground level that it occurred to her that she didn't know where the flat was, but she was grateful to see that she was close to campus. 

* * * 

Donna, to her surprise, was less sympathetic than Jack. 

"My brother?" she screeched after Rose finished telling her tale of woe. 

"Shhhh! Someone will hear you." 

"And hopefully they'll come running with a bucket of brain bleach I can use." 

"It's not funny, Donna." 

"I don't know, the idea of that skinny streak of nothing --" Then she shook her head viciously as though she could physically shake loose the mental image. "No, no, no. Get out!" 

"I couldn't find any used condoms," Rose said beneath Donna's raving. 

Immediate silence fell between them. Then, "Oh, Rose." 

The sympathy in Donna's voice finally did her in, and Rose gave in to tears. 

After a long, honest conversation about what she wanted to do, Rose agreed to allow Donna to accompany her to Boots to pick up a morning after pill. She spent the rest of Saturday and most of the day Sunday curled in bed. 

Around tea time, a knock on her door roused her from a fitful sleep. 

"Who is it?" 

"Donna." 

"Go away." 

"It doesn't work like that, Blondie. I've got a key, so either you open the door or I'm coming in." 

Rose dragged herself out of bed and thumbed the lock on the door open. Donna stepped inside before she got back to her bed. 

"John's downstairs." 

"I don't want to see him." 

"He's pretty persistent, and he really wants to see you. I'm kind of surprised he hasn't scaled the outside of the building looking for your window by now." She nodded at said window where slightly parted pink curtains let in a bit of afternoon light. 

"I'm the first person in my family to go to uni. I've got two years left in my degree program and plans to get out of the estate where I was raised by my single mother. Plans that might have gotten not only derailed, but completely turned around 180 degrees only this time it's me raising a baby alone. All because of your brother." 

Donna crossed the small room and sank onto the bed, wrapping her arm around Rose's shoulder. "You're not even sure you are pregnant. But if you are, just talk to him, he'll do the right thing. You know John, he thinks of our last name as a directive." 

Rose snorted. "If he was so 'noble' I wouldn't be here." 

Donna's arm tightened around her. "How long do you think you have to wait to know for sure?" 

"I don't know. The chemist said my cycle shouldn't be disrupted, but I've never really kept track of it to begin with." She calculated. "A week and a half? Two weeks. I'm guessing." 

"What should I tell John?" 

"Don't tell him anything." 

"He's my brother, Blondie." 

"He's a self-absorbed prat." 

"Yes, that's true." When it looked like Rose wasn't going to say anything else, Donna stood and walked to the door. "You know, I really wish you two would have... oh, never mind." 

When the door closed behind her, Rose stood up and adjusted the curtains so that they covered the window completely. She was on the third floor, but there was no sense in taking chances. 

* * * 

In the end it took an agonizing 17 days for Rose to find out for sure that she wasn't pregnant. As near as she could tell, Donna had obeyed her wishes and not spoken to John; in fact, she appeared to be running interference, and Rose was eternally grateful. She hadn't run into him once in the whole time. 

But now she had to see him to put it all behind her. 

As if to prove just how good a job Donna had done, the minute Rose stepped out of her residence hall in search of John, she saw him walking towards the building. Maybe karma was working in her favor for once. 

His eyes lit up, but his face fell again almost immediately when he saw the expression on her face. 

Rose turned off of the pavement and moved to a nearby tree in the hopes that it would give them a measure of privacy. 

"I'm not pregnant," she said as soon as he joined her. 

"Oh. Um. Good? Is that good?" 

"I should say it's good." She gasped. "You mean you wanted..." 

"Me?" he squeaked. "I don't see how it's any business of mine." 

Her lip curled. "No, I don't suppose you do. Look, I told you because I thought you might like to know. I did my part. Goodbye, John." 

She turned on her heel but had only taken a few steps when John's voice stopped her. 

"Rose, what -- I mean, I know we were never close, but you've always been so friendly and I thought -- well, I hoped -- and after... but lately you've been so closed off." 

The sound of her hand on his cheek echoed off of the buildings surrounding them. 

"OW! What did you do that for?" 

"You arsehole! You complete and total wanker! What did you think, I would be so thrilled the great John Noble had paid attention to me that I'd fall at your feet?" 

He gaped at her, his mouth working soundlessly. 

"You're lucky I don't report you," she spat. "I'd like to see how easily you'd get your degree while in jail." 

She didn't remember getting back to her room between the blur of tears and the memory of John's shocked face. 

Donna found her half an hour later, curled up on her bed, cheeks still wet. 

"We need to talk, Blondie." 

"I'm really not in the mood right now, Red." 

"Yeah, but this is important. Come on, budge up." 

Rose scooted closer to the wall to make room for her friend. 

Donna reached over and pulled a few tissues from the box. 

"Here, clean yourself up," she directed, handing them over as she sat down, and then waited until Rose did. "There, much better. Now, just listen for a bit. Okay?" 

"Yeah." 

"I talked to John." 

"You what! You promised!" 

"He's my brother, Rose. And he showed up here right after you stormed through the common room, your hand print on his face and confused as hell about what was going on. If it makes you feel any better, his other cheek's red, too, now." She took a deep breath. "But then I talked to him. What you think happened didn't happen." 

Rose snorted. "Of course he'd say that." 

"I believe him." 

"So what, I'm a liar now, too?" 

"I didn't say that. I'm just suggesting that maybe you don't have a complete picture of the events and he can help you piece them together. If it helps, he says Jack can corroborate part of the story, so even if you don't trust my brother you know you can at least trust him." A few moments passed in tense silence, then Donna stood up and grabbed Rose's arm. "Come on, Blondie, downstairs with you. You've done enough wallowing." 

Rose fought back, pulling her arm out of Donna's grasp. "No! Seriously, no. I'm not talking to him again." 

Donna huffed, took out her mobile and dialed before shoving the phone into Rose's hands. "It's Jack's number," she explained before Rose could hand it back to her. 

"Well, hello there, you gorgeous fiery vixen, what can I do for you today?"

"Jack, it's Rose." 

All teasing left Jack's voice. "Is everything okay? Where's Donna?"

"She's right here. She wants me to talk to you about what happened that night." 

"Phew. You scared me there for a minute. All right. Where do you want me to start?"

"I don't even remember seeing you guys at the club." 

"Well, I'm not surprised. You were already pretty sloshed by the time we got there. We'd been there about an hour and John hadn't taken his eyes off of you once - and I'll have you know there were many young women there that night who went away very disappointed because of it - but I digress. I was dancing when it happened. John jumped up from the table and ran out the doors. By the time I could separate myself from the crowd and track him down, he was standing in the alleyway between you and some guy I'd never seen before. Rose, I don't know how far it got before John interfered, but neither of you was fully dressed, and the other guy was stone sober. He was standing up to John, but as soon as he saw there were two of us, he bolted. John told me he was going to take you home. I offered to help, but he said he could handle it and that I should stay. I just assumed he meant back to your hall, so when I got back to the flat hours later and his door was closed I didn't think anything of it. He swears to me he slept on the sofa, and, after seeing the way he looked at that guy in that alley, I believe him.

"Rosie?" he prompted when the silence stretched out. 

"Yeah, Jack. I'm still here." 

"He's not that kind of guy, sweetheart. And I'm going to tell you this even though I know I shouldn't, because I think you need to hear it. He likes you way too much to screw up like this."

Rose's heart stopped beating for a second. "He what? What do you mean he likes me?" 

The next thing she knew, Donna yanked the phone out of her hand and yelled into it. "Oh, no, Jack Harkness, don't you dare!" 

She could hear Jack's smooth tone as he replied but couldn't pick out the words he was saying. As Donna continued to berate him for spilling John's secrets, Rose slipped out of the room and downstairs. 

There were a few girls laying all over each other on the sofa as they watched telly, but Rose's eyes were immediately drawn to John, who popped up from the chair he'd been sitting in as soon as she walked into room. It was hard to look at him and not think 'Enemy, run away!' but with Jack's words ringing in her ears and that puppy dog look once again in John's eyes, topping off the general impression he was giving off that he would fall at her feet and beg forgiveness if she gave him half a chance, she forced herself to walk up to him. 

"Rose, I --" 

As soon as he spoke, the girls on the sofa turned their attention to them, and Rose cringed. They all knew him, of course; to some he was only Donna's brother, but to others he was their friend's (friends' in some cases) ex-boyfriend. 

"Can we take this somewhere else?" 

"Yes, of course. Did you want --" He gestured vaguely behind her at the lift. 

"God, no. Donna's up there yelling at Jack on her mobile."

He looked from her to the lift in confusion. "Why would Donna be yelling at Jack?" 

Quite certain John wouldn't want to know what his roommate had told her, Rose started walking towards the doors without answering him, and John followed, hot on her heels. He waited until she found them a quiet place where they could talk, far away from prying eyes and listening ears, before he tried talking again. "I know what you think happened --" 

She stopped walking and turned to face him, but the motion was too quick for John who nearly tripped on his own feet trying to stop before he ran into her. Her hands shot out automatically to help steady him, and he let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a squeak when they landed firmly on his chest. He took a half step backwards, meaning that there was exactly half a step of space between them when she spoke. 

"What did you expect me to think? I woke up in your bed wearing nothing but my knickers, John!"

His eyes widened. "I slipped off your shoes, but that was the extent of the undressing that I did. I certainly didn't -- look, at the risk of sounding like an even worse arse than you already think me, if we'd done... that, do you honestly think you'd have been wearing anything at all when you woke up?" 

Rose felt her cheeks heat, embarrassed that she hadn't considered that. "No, I guess not. But that morning, in your kitchen, you didn't look at me like a bloke who'd... well, a bloke who was thinking innocent thoughts." 

It was his turn to blush, something he tried to cover by ducking his head, but being that they were standing so close and she was so much shorter than him, Rose could clearly see the play of emotions across his face. "Rose, I -- you must know -- two years now I've been trying to -- and there you were, in my flat, fresh from my bed, all sleepy and... gorgeous, with that huge hickey on your neck. It looked like, well, exactly what you thought had happened, and I wanted -- and for a second I thought you might -- but then you --" He took a deep breath. "You know I'd never hurt you, right?" 

"I didn't know. But I'm getting the idea."

It wasn't until he swallowed hard and his eyes drifted to her lips that she realized her hands were still on his chest - had been this whole time. It wasn't a bad place to be, if she was honest, only a thin t-shirt separating her hands from what felt like firm muscle below. He was lean but apparently very fit. And... OH MY GOD, she was feeling him up.

He chuckled when she stiffened, his chest moving slightly along with the sound. 

"Don't stop on my account."

She shuddered. His voice had dropped at least half an octave and had become so thick and syrupy that Rose had a mental image of trying to pull her hands away from his chest only to have them dragged back into place as though mired in tar. 

Deliberately, she removed her hands and backed away from him. "I'm not ready. Up until an hour ago I thought you'd taken advantage of me."

He straightened and folded his arms across his chest. "Right. Yes. Of course -- wait. 'Not ready' as in might some day be ready?"

"As in I might let you buy me chips. Tomorrow?"

He nodded enthusiastically, doing a pretty fair impersonation of a bobblehead doll which had Rose biting her lip to stop from laughing.

She grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's get back before Donna thinks I've killed you."

Donna was waiting for them at the door to the hall, hand on her hips and expression thunderous. But with one look at them she relaxed. "Well, it's about time."


End file.
